| This research study was to identify key follower behavioral attributes in relationship to contradictory leadership types. The key follower behavioral attributes were collected using the Adjective Checklist Questionnaire (Harrison & Heilbrun, 1983, Adjective checklist Manual and Sampler Set), a proven personality psychological instrument. The contradictory leadership types included Exemplary Leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 2007, The Leadership Challenge 4th Ed.) and Bad Leadership (Kellerman, 2004, Bad leadership: What it does, how it happens, why it matters). The research design was a pretest posttest design with the contradictory leadership description as the independent variable. The first finding of the research study was that followers ideal-self behavioral attributes closely align with Exemplary Leadership. The second finding of the research study is that Bad Leadership had a statistically significant negative impact on followers ideal-self behavioral attributes. Followers are unique individuals who can play an active role in organizations. Two key future research recommendations include quantifying how many followers actually work for Bad Leaders, and quantifying the cost of Bad Leadership. |
